National Security Scholar says U.S. Should Stay in Iraq

Apr 03, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) As a Democrat, a national security scholar and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Michael O'Hanlon is both a critic and supporter of the war in Iraq.

"I'm one of the people who believe that most of our problems in Iraq have to do with how we handled that first six to twelve months," O'Hanlon says. "And I think since that time we've been trying to play catch up ball. It was not until the surge of General Petraeus (check spell) that we had the correct strategy to go in with a large force and provide protection for the Iraqi population as our first goal."

Speaking on KCPW's Midday Metro Wednesday, O'Hanlon says a big victory in Iraq is no longer possible. The only option now is to avoid a catastrophe, he says. O'Hanlon will make the case for staying in Iraq Thursday, April 10, at Westminster College. It is part of his advice for the next U.S. president. In addition to fixing the Iraq situation, he has three other areas he thinks the next president should address.

"My own personal top three, health care policy, economic trade and globalization, and energy policy," O'Hanlon says.

His April 10 lecture is free and open to the public. It starts at 7 p.m. at Westminster College's Gore Auditorium in the Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business. A podcast of O'Hanlon's interview on Wednesday's MidDay Metro is available here.

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